Captain Keppel sails for China.--Calcutta.--The Dido ordered to
Borneo again.--Arrival at Sarawak.--Effect of her presence at
Sarawak.--Great improvements visible.--Atrocities of the Sakarran
pirates.--Mr. Brooke's letter.--Captain Sir E. Belcher's previous
visit to Sarawak in the Samarang.--Coal found.--Second letter
from the Rajah Muda Hassim.--Expedition against the Sakarran
pirates.--Patusen destroyed.--Macota remembered, and his retreat
burnt.--Further fighting, and advance.--Ludicrous midnight alarm.
_June 24th._--I reached the Dido at 8 o'clock, and immediately got
under weigh. After remaining twenty-four hours to water at Singapore,
I sailed for Hong Kong. My time, during the year that I was absent
from Borneo, if not quite so usefully, was not unpleasantly passed. We
lay a few months in the Canton river. In addition to having good
opportunities of seeing the natives of China in their domestic state,
I witnessed one of those most curious and extraordinary sights that
occasionally occur during the winter months in the city of Canton,
namely, a fire. The one I saw was about the most extensive that had
ever been experienced; and the Dido's crew had the gratification of
being of some assistance in the protection of British property. From
China the Dido accompanied the commander-in-chief, in the Cornwallis,
to the Spanish colony at Manilla, which is a place that few forget;
and a short description of our visit there has been given in an
interesting little work, written by Captain Cunynghame. On my return
to Hong Kong, I had the gratification of receiving on board the Dido,
Major-General Lord Saltoun and his staff, consisting of two old and
esteemed friends of mine, Captain, now Major Arthur Cunynghame,
his lordship's aid-de-camp, and Major Grant, of the 9th Lancers,
who had been adjutant-general to the forces. A more agreeable cruise
at sea I never experienced. We called at the island of Pinang, in the
Malacca straits, on our way, where we again fell in with the admiral;
and I was most agreeably surprised at meeting my friend Mr. Brooke,
who had come on to Singapore to meet Sir William Parker, and had
followed him up in the Wanderer, commanded by my friend Captain
Henry Seymour,--that vessel, in company with the Harlequin, Captain
the Hon. George Hastings, and the H. C. steamer Diana, having just
returned from an expedition to Acheen, whither they had been dispatched
by the commander-in-chief, to inquire into and demand redress for an
act of piracy, committed on an English merchant-vessel. An account
of the expedition has already been published. The pirates had made a
desperate resistance, and several lives were lost, and many severely
wounded on our side; among the latter was my friend Mr. Brooke (in the
head and arm), for which I took the liberty of giving him a lecture
on his rashness, he having quite sufficient ground for fighting over
in his newly-adopted country. He was much pleased at the admiral's
having promised that the Dido should return again to the Straits
station as soon as she had completed her voyage to Calcutta.
On the 11th March, 1844, we anchored off the grand City of Palaces,
and well does it merit the name. We could not have, timed our
visit better. The governor-general, the Earl of Ellenborough,
was being _feted_ on his return from the frontiers, which _fetes_
were continued on the arrival, a few days after ourselves, of the
Cornwallis at Kedgeree, when the flag of Sir William Parker was shifted
to the Dido. The admiral experienced the same style of hospitable
entertainment that had previously been given to General Sir Hugh Gough
on his return from the Chinese expedition. At Calcutta I was kindly
invited by the "Tent Club," and introduced to that noble and most
exciting of all field-sports, "Hog-hunting in India;" but with which
the pleasures of the day did not cease. The subsequent convivial
meeting was a thing not easily to be forgotten. Although under a
tent pitched by the edge of the jungle, thirty miles from the city,
none of the comforts of the house were wanting; there were the punkah
and the hookah, those luxuries of the East, to say nothing of heaps
of ice from the far West, which aided considerably the consumption of
champagne and claret; and to better all these good things, every man
brought with him the will and the power to please and to be pleased.
A few days before my departure from Calcutta, the governor-general
finding it necessary to send treasure to China, the admiral desired
me to receive it on board. Although a welcome cargo, it delayed for a
couple of months my return to Borneo. I found Mr. Brooke awaiting my
arrival at Singapore; but as I could not then receive him on board,
Captain Hastings took him over to Sarawak in the Harlequin.
On arriving at Hong Kong, Rear-Admiral Sir T. Cochrane appointed
Mr. Frederick Wade as first lieutenant, Lieutenant Wilmot Horton having
been promoted to the rank of commander for his gallant defence when
the Dido's boats were attacked by the very superior force of pirates
off the island of Sirhassan.
Having landed the treasure at Hong Kong, and completed stores and
provisions, I sailed from Macao on the 21st June, and working down
against the monsoon, arrived at Singapore on the 18th July. I here
found letters from Mr. Brooke, stating that the Sakarrans had been
out in great force; and although he was not aware of any danger to
himself or his settlement, still, by coming over quickly, I might
have a fair chance of catching and crushing them in the very act
of piracy. I lost no time in preparing for another expedition. The
government at Calcutta had become fully sensible of the necessity
of protecting the native trade to Singapore, and had sent down the
Phlegethon steamer, of light draught of water, and better adapted to
service in the straits or rivers than any of her majesty's larger
vessels. She was, moreover, fitted in every way for the peculiar
service on which she was to be employed, with a zealous, experienced,
and active commander, F. Scott, [18] as well as a fine enterprising
set of young officers. I lost no time in making application for her
to the resident counselor, Mr. Church (in the absence of Colonel
Butterworth, the Governor of the Straits), who immediately placed
her at my disposal; and with such means, I was anxious to commence
operations as speedily as possible, leaving the Vixen and Wolverine
to perform the other duties of the station.
_Thursday, 25th July._--Sailed from Singapore, having dispatched
the Phlegethon the previous night, with orders to rendezvous at the
entrance to the Morotaba, which we entered in the evening of the 29th;
and anchoring the ship inside the river, I went on in the steamer to
within four miles of Sarawak, when I pulled up in my gig, accompanied
by the Dido's pinnace, that I might, by firing her carronade as a
signal, be enabled to give notice of our approach, not feeling myself
quite secure from a shot from the forts, which were very judiciously
placed so as to command the last reach approaching the town, as I
knew that before Mr. Brooke's return they had been put in a state
of defence, and a regular watch kept, by self-appointed officers,
sleeping on their arms. I, however, got up without accident, in time
to receive a hearty welcome, about daylight.
Not expecting to revisit Borneo during the period that the ship had to
run before completing her usual time of commission, it was gratifying
for me to read in my friend's journal, alluding to my former visit;
"I came myself in the Dido; and I may say that her appearance was
the consummation of my enterprise." "The natives saw directly that
there was a force to protect and to punish; and most of the chiefs,
conscious of their evil ways, trembled; Muda Hassim was gratified,
and felt that this power would exalt his authority both in Borneo and
along the coast, and he was not slow in magnifying the force of the
Dido. The state in which Captain Keppel and his officers visited the
rajah all heightened the effect; and the marines and the band excited
the admiration and the fears of the natives. I felt the rajah's hand
tremble at the first interview; and not all the well-known command
of countenance, of which the natives are masters, could conceal
his emotion."
Gentle reader, excuse my vanity if I continue a little further with
my friend's journal, although it gets rather personal:
"I believe the first emotion was anything but pleasurable; but Captain
Keppel's conciliatory and kind manner soon removed any feeling of
fear; and was all along of the greatest use to me in our subsequent
doings. The first qualification, in dealing with a Malay, is a kind
and gentle manner; for their habitual politeness is such that they
are hurt by the ordinary _brusquerie_ of the European.
"I shall not go over the chase of the three boats of the Balagnini
pirates, or the attack made on the Dido's boats by the Sirhassan,
people, except to remark, that in the latter case, I am sure Lieutenant
Horton acted rightly in sparing their lives and property; for, with
these occasional pirates, a severe lesson, followed by that degree of
conciliation and pardon which shall best insure a correction of their
vices, is far wiser and preferable to a course of undistinguishing
severity."
I found Sarawak much altered for the better, and the population
considerably increased. Mr. Brooke had established himself in a
new house built on a beautiful and elevated mound, from which the
intriguing Macota had just been ejected on my first visit. Neat and
pretty-looking little Swiss cottages had sprung up on all the most
picturesque spots, which gave it quite a European look. He had also
made an agreeable addition to his English society; and a magazine
of English merchandise had been opened to trade with the natives,
together with many other improvements.
On the other hand, Seriff Sahib, not deterred, as I had anticipated
he would be, by the example I made of his neighbors in the Sarebus,
had taken measures for withdrawing from the adjoining river of Sadong,
where he had been living in a comparatively unguarded state, and
had, during the last nine months, been making busy preparations for
fortifying himself at a place called Patusen, up the Batang Lupar. He
had lately got things in a forward state, had called out a large
fleet of Sakarrans as an escort; and being puffed up with his own
power and importance, had thought proper to prolong the performance
of his voyage, of about 100 miles, from his residence in Sadong
to his fortified position at Patusen, for three weeks or a month,
during which time he had dispatched small parties of his fleet, which
consisted of upward of 150 war-prahus, on piratical excursions. These
robbers had, in addition to their piracies on the high seas, scoured
the coast in all directions, and committed the greatest atrocities,
attended with some of the most cruel murders. One sample will be
sufficient to show their brutal character:--A detachment of three of
their boats, having obtained information that a poor Dyak family,
belonging to a tribe in Mr. Brooke's territory, had come down from
their mountain to cultivate a small portion of land nearer the coast,
and, for their better security, had made their dwelling in the upper
branches of a large tree on the outskirts of the forest, determined to
destroy them. Their little children were playing in the jungle when
the pirates were seen approaching the tree with their diabolical
war-yells. As the poor man did not descend immediately on being
summoned, he was shot; when other ruffians, to save their ammunition,
mounted the tree, murdered the woman, and returned in triumph to their
boats with the heads of both victims. The children, who had witnessed
this from their hiding-places, succeeded in getting to Sarawak.
Taking advantage of Mr. Brooke's unusually long absence, Sarawak itself
was threatened, and open defiance hurled at any European force that
should dare approach Patusen. Reports, too, had been industriously
spread that Mr. Brooke never intended to return; and when he did
get back to his home, he found the town guarded and watched like a
besieged city. With his usual nerve and decision he withdrew his men
from the forts, and sent to Seriff Sahib to inform him that he should
suffer for his temerity.
A letter I received from him is so characteristic, and gives so lively
a description of these events, that I am tempted to print it.
"Sarawak, 26th May, 1844.
"My Dear Keppel,
"It is useless applying a spur to a willing horse; so I will only
tell you that there is plenty to do here, and the sooner you can
come the better for all of us, especially your poor friends the
Dyaks. Bring with you as much force as you can to attack Sakarran.
"The case stands thus:--Seriff Sahib, quite frightened at Sadong
since last year, enraged likewise at his loss of power and his
incapability of doing mischief, collected all the Sakarran Dyaks,
and was joined by many of the Dyaks of Sarebus and some Balows. He
likewise had a good many Malays, and bullied every one in his
vicinity. This force met at the entrance of the Sadong Delta, and
committed depredations. They were not less than 200 Dyak boats,
and some 15 or 20 armed Malay prahus, beside others. Just as
they were collected, the Harlequin appeared off the coast, and
had the Dido been with us, we might have _had them all_; but the
opportunity will never again occur. Seriff Sahib, with this force,
has started to-day for Sakarran, and I was not strong enough with
my eight native boats to attack him. It is really greatly to be
lamented, because we should most completely have crushed the head
of the snake. We must, however, make the best of it. It is his
intention, on his arrival at Sakarran, to fortify and wait for
our attack, and in the mean time to send out his Dyaks along the
coast and inland to such places as they dare venture to attack.
"Come then, my dear Keppel, for there is plenty to do for all
hands. I have ordered a gun-boat from Mr. Goldie, to make our
force stronger; and had I possessed such a one the day before
yesterday, I would have pulled away for the Sadong to-day.
"My regards to all. I still propose Pepper-Pot Hall for your
residence. I only wish I felt _quite sure_ that Fortune had it in
store that you would be here on your return from China. That dame,
however, seems to delight in playing me slippery tricks just at
present; and never was the time and tide so missed before, which
would have led to fortune, as the other day. All the queen's
ships and all the queen's men could not bring such a chance
together again.
"Ever, my dear Keppel, your sincere friend,
"J. Brooke.
"Captain the Hon. Henry Keppel."
No one could have been more disappointed or have regretted more than
my gallant friend Captain Hastings, that his orders did not admit of
any delay, or of his attacking that redoubtable pirate Seriff Sahib,
especially as he had a small score to settle with that kind of gentry,
having had his first lieutenant, H. Chads, severely wounded in two
places, and several men killed, in the affair at Acheen Head. It was,
however, all for the best, as the few boats that the Harlequin could
have sent would have stood but a poor chance against upward of 200
war-prahus, all fitted and prepared for fight.
On the 1st of August, with the Dido and Phlegethon at anchor off
Sarawak, the warlike preparations were going on rapidly. I had saluted
and paid my visit to Muda Hassim; he was delighted to see me again,
and we went through the form of holding several conferences of war
in his divan. He appears to be a good well-meaning man, well inclined
toward the English, moderately honest, and, if roused, I daresay not
without animal courage; and altogether, with the assistance of his
clever younger brother, Budrudeen, a very fit person to govern that
part of Borneo of which he is rajah.
During my absence, Sarawak had been visited by H.M.S. Samarang,
Captain Sir Edward Belcher, who had received directions to call on and
communicate with Mr. Brooke. In dropping down the river the Samarang
grounded on a long shelf of rocks, at the top of high water, and with
the ebb-tide rolled over, filling with the succeeding flood. She was
nearly a fortnight in this position, but was ultimately saved by the
skill and almost unparalleled perseverance (aided by such assistance of
men and spars as Mr. Brooke could afford) of her captain, officers,
and crew--a feat that must have given the natives a good idea of
what British seamen are capable of. This accident delayed for a
short time a visit that was afterward made by Sir Edward Belcher,
accompanied by Mr. Brooke, to Borneo Proper. A hurried inspection of
the capabilities of that part of the coast took place; and the fact
of there being coal on the island was ascertained.
I received a second letter from Muda Hassim, of which the following
is a translation:
"This comes from Pangeran Muda Hassim, Rajah of Borneo, to our
friend Captain Keppel, in command of her Britannic Majesty's ship.
(After the usual compliments):
"We beg to let our friend Captain Keppel know, that the pirates
of Sakarran, whom we mentioned last year, still continue their
piracies by sea and land; and that many Malays, under Seriff Sahib,
who have been accustomed to send or to accompany the pirates
and to share in their spoils, have gone to the Sakarran river,
with a resolve of defending themselves rather than accede to our
wishes that they should abandon piracy.
"Last year Captain Belcher told the sultan and myself, that it
would be pleasing to the Queen of England that we should repress
piracy; and we signed an agreement, at his request, in which we
promised to do so; and we tell our friend of the piracies and evil
actions of the Sakarran people, who have, for many years past,
done much mischief to trade, and make it dangerous for boats to
sail along the coast; and this year many prahus, which wanted
to sail to Singapore, have been afraid. We inform our friend
Captain Keppel of this, as we desire to end all the piracy,
and to perform our agreement with the Queen of England."
_Monday, 5th August, 1844_, being the morning fixed for the departure
of our expedition against the Sakarran pirates, the Phlegethon steamer
weighed at 8 o'clock, and proceeded down the river to await at the
mouth the collection of our force. Among those who accompanied us from
Sarawak was the Pangeran Budrudeen, the intelligent brother of the
rajah already noticed. This was a great and unusual event in the royal
family; and the departure from the rajah's wharf, which I viewed from
Mr. Brooke's house, on the opposite bank of the river, was intended
to be very imposing. The barge of state was decked out with banners
and canopies; all the chiefs attended, with the Arab priest Mudlana
at their head, and the barge pushed off amid the firing of cannon,
and a general screech, invoking the blessing of Mahomet.
Having seen the last boat off, Mr. Brooke and myself took our departure
in the gig, when another and last farewell salute was fired from the
rajah's wharf.
Three hours brought us to the steamer, anchored off the fishing huts
at the mouth of the river. Here we heard that a small boat from
the enemy's country had, under the pretence of trading, just been
in to spy into our force, but decamped again on the appearance of
the steamer. We now all got fairly away together, the smaller boats
keeping near the shoals in shore, while the steamer was obliged to make
an offing some miles from the coast. From the masthead we distinctly
made out the small boat that had left the mouth of the river before,
both pulling and sailing in the direction of the Batang Lupar, up which
the Sakarran country lies; and as it was desirable that the pirates
should not get information of our approach, at dusk, being well in
advance, and our auxiliary force following, I dispatched Mr. Brooke's
Singapore sampan and one of the Dido's cutters in chase. At half-past
nine we anchored in the stream within the entrance.
We were fortunate at Sarawak in picking up two excellent and
intelligent pilots, who had long known the whole river, and had
themselves been several times forced to serve in the boats while on
their piratical excursions.
_Tuesday 6th._--With the flood-tide arrived all the well appointed
and imposing little fleet, and with them the cutter and sampan with
two out of the three men belonging to the boat of which they had
been in chase; the third having been speared by Seboo, on showing a
strong inclination to run a-muck in his own boat, _i. e._ to sell his
life as dearly as he could. From these men we obtained information
that Seriff Sahib was fully prepared for defence--that his harem had
been removed--and that he would fight to the last. We also learned
that Macota, better known among us by the name of the "Serpent," and
often mentioned in Mr. Brooke's journal, was the principal adviser,
in whose house the councils of war were generally held.
We anchored, in the afternoon, off the mouth of the river Linga;
and while there we dispatched a messenger to Seriff Jaffer to
caution him against giving any countenance or support to either of
the Seriffs Sahib and Muller, on whose punishment and destruction we
were determined.
The Batang Lupar, as far as this, is a magnificent river, from three to
four miles wide, and, in most parts, from five to seven fathoms water.
_Wednesday, 7th._--We weighed at daylight, but were obliged to anchor
again before appearing in sight of Patusen, until the tide should
rise sufficiently to enable us to pass a long flat shoal, over which,
during the spring-tides, a bore rushes with frightful velocity.
We now collected our boats, and made our arrangements as well as
we could, for attacking a place we had not yet seen. We had now a
little more difficulty in keeping our native force back, as many of
those who had accompanied the expedition last year had gained so much
confidence that the desire of plunder exceeded the feeling of fear.
After weighing at 11, with a strong tide sweeping us up, we were not
many minutes in coming in sight of the fortifications of Patusen; and
indeed they were not to be despised. There were five of them, two not
quite finished. Getting suddenly into six feet water, we anchored the
steamer; not so formidable a berth, although well within musket-range,
as we might have taken up had I been aware of the increasing depth
of water nearer the town; but we approached so rapidly there was no
time to wait the interpretation of the pilot's information.
The Dido and Phlegethon's boats were not long in forming
alongside. They were directed to pull in shore, and then attack the
forts in succession; but my gallant first-lieutenant, Wade, who had
the command, was the first to break the line, and pull directly in
the face of the largest fort. His example was followed by the others;
and dividing, each boat pulled for that which appeared to the officer
in command to be the one most likely to make a good fight. The forts
were the first to open fire on both steamer and boats, which was
quickly and smartly returned. It is impossible to imagine a prettier
sight than it was from the top of the Phlegethon's paddle-box. It was
my intention to have fired on the enemy from the steamer, so as to
draw their attention off the boats; but owing to the defective state
of the detonating priming-tubes, the guns from the vessel did not go
off, and the boats had all the glory to themselves.
They never once checked in their advance; but the moment they touched
the shore the crews rushed up, entering the forts at the embrasures,
while the pirates fled by the rear.
In this sharp and short affair we had but one man killed, poor John
Ellis, a fine young man, and captain of the main-top in the Dido. He
was cut in two by a cannon-shot while in the act of ramming home a
cartridge in the bow-gun of the Jolly Bachelor. Standing close to
poor Ellis at the fatal moment was a fine promising young middy,
Charles Johnson, a nephew of Mr. Brooke's, who fortunately escaped
unhurt. This, and two others badly wounded, were the only accidents
on our side.
Our native allies were not long in following our men on shore. The
killed and wounded on the part of the pirates must have been
considerable. Our followers got several heads. There were no fewer
than sixty-four brass guns of different sizes, beside many iron,
found in and about the forts: the latter we spiked and threw into
the river. The town was very extensive; and after being well looted,
made a glorious blaze.
Our Sarawak followers, both Malays and Dyaks, behaved with the
greatest gallantry, and dashed in under the fire of the forts. In
fact, like their country, anything might be made of them under a good
government; and such is their confidence in Mr. Brooke's judgment,
and their attachment to his person, that he might safely defy in his
own stronghold the attacks of any foreign power.
After our men had dined, and had a short rest during the heat of the
day, we landed our whole force in two divisions--and a strange but
formidable-looking force they made--to attack a town situated about
two miles up, on the left bank of a small river called the Grahan,
the entrance to which had been guarded by the forts; and immediately
after their capture the tide had fallen too low for our boats to get
up. Facing the stream, too, was a long stockade; so that we determined
on attacking the place in the rear, which, had the pirates only waited
to receive us, would have caused a very interesting skirmish. They,
however, decamped, leaving everything behind them. In this town we
found Seriff Sahib's residence, and, among other things, all his
curious and extensive wardrobe. It was ridiculous to see our Dyaks
dressed out in all the finery and plunder of this noted pirate, whose
very name, a few days previous, would have made them tremble. Goats
and poultry there were in abundance. We likewise found a magazine
in the rear of the seriff's house, containing about two tons of
gunpowder; also a number of small barrels of fine powder, branded
"Dartford," in exactly the same state as it had left the manufactory
in England. It being too troublesome and heavy to convey on board
the steamer, and each of our native followers staggering up to his
knees in mud, under a heavy load of plunder, I had it thrown into the
river. It was evident how determined the chief had been to defend
himself, as, beside the defences already completed, eight others,
in different states of forwardness, were in the course of erection;
and had the attack been delayed a few weeks, Patusen would not have
been carried by boats without considerable loss of life. It was the
key to this extensive river; the resort of the worst of pirates; and
each chief had contributed his share of guns and ammunition toward
its fortification and defence.
We returned to our boats and evening meal rather fatigued, but much
pleased with our day's work, after ascending nearly seventy miles
from the mouth of the river. The habitations of 5000 pirates had
been burnt to the ground; four strong forts destroyed, together with
several hundred boats; upward of sixty brass cannons captured, and
about a fourth that number of iron spiked and thrown into the river,
beside vast quantities of other arms and ammunition; and the powerful
Seriff Sahib, the great pirate-patron for the last twenty years, ruined
past recovery, and driven to hide his diminished head in the jungle.
The 8th and 9th were passed in burning and destroying the rest of
the straggling town, and a variety of smaller boats, which were very
numerous. I had also an account to settle with that cunning rascal
Macota, for his aiding and abetting Seriff Sahib in his piracies. He
had located himself very pleasantly near a bend in the river,
about a mile above Seriff Sahib's settlement, and was in the act
of building extensive fortifications, when I had the satisfaction
of anticipating the visit and some of the compliments he would have
conferred on my friend Mr. Brooke at Sarawak. Budrudeen, the rajah's
brother, had likewise been duped by this fellow, and was exceedingly
anxious to insert the blade of a very sharp and beautiful kris into
the body of his late friend. Mr. Brooke, however, was anxious to
save his life, which he afterward had the satisfaction of doing. I
shall never forget the tiger-like look of the young Pangeran when we
landed together in the hopes of surprising the "Serpent" in his den;
but he was too quick for us, having decamped with his followers,
and in so great a hurry as to leave all his valuables behind--among
them a Turkish pipe, some chairs once belonging to the Royalist, and
other presents from Mr. Brooke. Everything belonging to him was burnt
or destroyed save some handsome brass guns. There was one of about
12 cwt. that had been lent by the sultan when Macota was in favor,
and which I returned to Budrudeen for his brother.
We were here joined by a large number of the Linga Dyaks, the same
force that had joined us the year previous, while up the Sarebus,
but unaccompanied by Seriff Jaffer, of whom it was not quite clear
that he had not been secretly aiding the pirates. I sent them back with
assurances to their chiefs that they should not be molested unless they
gave shelter or protection to either Seriff Sahib or Muller. Seriff
Sahib, with a considerable body of followers, escaped inland in the
direction of the mountains, from the other side of which he would be
able to communicate with the river Linga. Macota was obliged to fly
up the river toward the Undop, on which the village and residence of
Seriff Sahib's brother, Seriff Muller, was situated.
Having destroyed every boat and sampan, as well as house or hut, on
the 10th, as soon as the tide had risen sufficiently to take us over
the shoals, we weighed, in the steamer, for the country of the Sakarran
Dyaks, having sent the boats on before with the first of the flood.
About fifteen miles above Patusen is the branch of the river called
the Undop: up this river I dispatched Lieutenant Turnour, with
Mr. Comber, in the Jolly Bachelor, and a division of our native
boats, while we proceeded to where the river again branches off to
the right and left, as on the tongue of land so formed we understood
we should find a strong fort; beside, it was the highest point to
which we could attempt to take the steamer. The branch to the left
is called the Sakarran; that to the right retains the name of Lupar,
inhabited chiefly by Sakarrans. We found the place deserted and the
houses empty. Knowing that these people depended almost entirely
for protection on the strongly fortified position at Patusen, I did
not expect any similar opposition from either Seriff Muller or the
desperate bloodthirsty Sakarrans, and consequently divided my force
into three division--the one, already mentioned, under Lieutenant
Turnour, up the Undop; another, under Mr. D'Aeth, up the Lupar; while
Lieutenant Wade, accompanied by Mr. Brooke, ascended the Sakarran. I
had not calculated on the disturbed and excited state in which I
found the country; and two wounded men having been sent back from
the Undop branch with accounts of the pirates, chiefly Malays, who
were collected in great numbers, both before and in the rear of our
small force; and an attempt having been made to cut off the bearer
of this information, Nakoda Bahar, who had had a very narrow escape,
and had no idea of taking back an answer unless attended by a European
force,--I determined on sending assistance. But I had some difficulty
in mustering another crew from the steamer, and was obliged to leave my
friend Capt. Scott, with only the idlers, rather critically situated.
I deemed it advisable to re-collect my whole force; and before
proceeding to the punishment of the Sakarrans, to destroy the power
and influence of Seriff Muller, whose town was situated about twenty
miles up, and was said to contain a population of 1500 Malays,
independently of the surrounding Dyak tribes. Having dispatched
boats with directions to Lieutenant Wade and Mr. D'Aeth to join
us in the Undop, I proceeded in my gig to the scene of action,
leaving the steamer to maintain as strict a blockade of the Sakarran
and Lupar branches as, with their reduced force, they were capable
of. On my joining Lieutenant Turnour, I found him just returned from
a very spirited attack which he had made, assisted by Mr. Comber,
on a stockade situated on the summit of a steep hill; Mr. Allen, the
master, being still absent on a similar service, on the opposite side
of the river. The gallant old chief Patingi Ali was likewise absent,
in pursuit of the enemy that had been driven from the stockades,
with whom he had had a hand-to-hand fight, the whole of which--being
on the rising ground--was witnessed by our boats' crews, who could
not resist hailing his return from his gallant achievement with three
hearty British cheers. This had the effect of giving such an impulse
to his courage, that, in a subsequent affair, it unhappily caused a
serious loss among this active and useful branch of our force.
We had now to unite in cutting our way through a barrier across
the river similar to that described in the attack on the Sarebus,
which having passed, we brought up for the night close to a still more
serious obstacle, being a number of huge trees felled, the branches of
which meeting midway in the river, formed apparently an insurmountable
obstacle to our progress. But "patience and perseverance overcome
all difficulties;" and by night only three of the trees remained to
be cleared away. We were now within a short distance of their town,
so that we could distinctly hear the noise and confusion which our
advance had occasioned. On the right bank, and about fifty yards in
advance of the barrier, stood a farm-house, which we considered it
prudent to occupy for the night, for which advanced post we collected
about fifty volunteers. These consisted of Messrs. Steward, Williamson,
and Comber; a corporal and four marines; my gig's crew; and a medley
of picked men from our Dyak and Malay followers; not forgetting my
usual and trusty attendant John Eager with his bugle, the sounding of
which was to be the signal for the whole force to come to the rescue,
in the event of surprise--not at all improbable from the nature of
our warfare and our proximity to the enemy's town.
And here a most ludicrous scene occurred during the night. Having
placed our sentries and look-out men, and given "Tiga" as the
watchword, we were, shortly after midnight, suddenly aroused from
sound sleep by a Dyak war-yell, which was immediately responded to by
the whole force. It was pitch dark: the interior of our farmhouse, the
partitions of which had been removed for the convenience of stowage,
was crowded to excess. In a moment every man was on his legs: swords,
spears, and krisses dimly glittered over our heads. It is impossible
to describe the excitement and confusion of the succeeding ten minutes:
one and all believed that we had been surrounded by the enemy, and cut
off from our main party. I had already thrust the muzzle of my pistol
close to the heads of several natives, whom, in the confusion, I had
mistaken for Sakarrans; and as each in his turn called out "Tiga,"
I withdrew my weapon to apply it to somebody else; until, at last,
we found that we were all "Tigas." I had prevented Eager, more than
once, from sounding the alarm, which, from the first, he had not
ceased to press me for permission to do. The Dyak yell had, however,
succeeded in throwing the whole force afloat into a similar confusion,
and not hearing the signal, they concluded that they, and not we,
were the party attacked. The real cause we afterward ascertained to
have arisen from the alarm of a Dyak, who dreamt, or imagined, that he
felt a spear thrust upward through the bamboo-flooring of our building,
and immediately gave his diabolical yell. The confusion was ten times
as much as it would have been had the enemy really been there. So
ended the adventures of the night in the wild jungle of Borneo.